1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting module, and in particular, to a light emitting module including a light emitting element and a mounting board for supporting the light emitting element.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, the applications of semiconductor light emitting elements, such as LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes), are rapidly expanding, for example, to automotive headlamps, etc., because energy saving and high reliability, etc., are demanded. Accordingly, a light emitting device is presented, in which an LED is mounted on a sub-mount and the sub-mount is fixed to a metal plate (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2007-87668).
In the aforementioned Patent Document, the sub-mount member and a lead pattern are connected together via an electrically-connecting member, such as a bonding wire. It is fundamentally preferable that such an electrically-connecting member is arranged below a light emitting surface in order to avoid an influence on light distribution by a shadow that has been caused by the electrically-connecting member. However, the bonding wire is arranged above the light emitting surface, for example, in the aforementioned Patent Document, and hence there is room for improvement from the viewpoint of avoiding an influence on light distribution by the electrically-connecting member. Even in the case where, by adopting, for example, a semiconductor light emitting element of a flip-chip type, power can be fed to the light emitting element from an electrode provided on the surface on which the element is mounted, it is also needed to use an electrically-connecting member, such as a bonding wire, for the connection between the electrode and a conductive member provided in another housing. Accordingly, also in such a case, it is not easy to achieve both omission of the step for the connection to the conductive member and avoidance of an influence on light distribution.